Jones turns it around in Louisville’s win
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. » Chris Jones kept No. 5 Louisville’s first Atlantic Coast Conference game from turning into its first ACC loss.
Jones scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half and the Cardinals won in their ACC debut, pulling away to beat Wake Forest 85-76 on Sunday night.
Jones — who entered with only six more assists than turnovers for the season — added a career-high 10 assists and had only two turnovers.
"All Chris Jones has to do to be one of the better point guards in the country is listen," coach Rick Pitino said. "He’s gone from never listening in junior college and high school to listening about 70 percent of the time. All he’s got to do is get it to 100 and we’ve got ourselves a special player."
Jones quibbled only with his Hall of Fame coach’s math.
"I’d say I listen 80 percent," Jones said, smiling. "Coach is wrong. I’ll tell him he’s 10 percent wrong."
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Montrezl Harrell had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinals (13-1, 1-0), who let a 13-point lead slip away before Jones took over late, scoring 14 points in the final eight minutes and leading the decisive 16-3 run.
Devin Thomas had a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds for Wake Forest (8-7, 0-2), which led 69-68 on Konstantinos Mitoglou’s layup with just under six minutes to play.
Jones put Louisville ahead to stay two possessions later with a contested jumper that started decisive run. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes for Louisville, which scored on nine of its last 10 possessions.
Codi Miller-McIntyre and freshman Mitchell Wilbekin had 14 points apiece for Wake Forest, which had its three-game winning streak snapped but won’t have to wait long for another shot at a top-five team: No. 2 Duke visits later this week.
"We could play with anybody with that effort," Thomas said. "We’ve just got to be better with details, the scouting report, and we’ve got to learn how to finish games."
NO. 4 WISCONSIN 81, NORTHWESTERN 58
EVANSTON, Ill. » Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker scored 16 points apiece, leading the Badgers (14-1, 2-0 Big Ten) past the Wildcats (10-5, 1-1).
The Badgers made 12 3-pointers and shot 53 percent from the field overall. Duje Dukan had 14 points in Wisconsin’s seventh consecutive victory
NO. 8 ARIZONA 73, ARIZONA STATE 49
TUCSON, Ariz. » Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 13 points and eight rebounds, and the WIldcats (12-1) routed the Sun Devils (8-6) to open Pac-12 play.
Arizona dominated Arizona State at both ends to quickly turn its rivalry game into a runaway.
NO. 10 UTAH 71, UCLA 39
SALT LAKE CITY » Delon Wright had 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in the Utes’ (12-2, 2-0 Pac-12) victory over the Bruins (8-7, 0-2).
Jakob Poeltl had nine points and 10 rebounds for Utah, which beat UCLA in Salt Lake City for the second straight season.
NO. 13 KANSAS 76, UNLV 61
LAWRENCE, Kan. » Frank Mason had 18 points and seven assists, Wayne Selden added 16 points and the Jayhawks (11-2) pulled away late to beat the Running Rebels (9-5).
Perry Ellis also had 16 points, Kelly Oubre had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Cliff Alexander scored 10 off the bench to help the Jayhawks win their 15th straight at Allen Fieldhouse.
NO. 16 WICHITA STATE 70, ILLINOIS STATE 62
WICHITA, Kan. » Ron Baker scored 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and the Shockers (12-2, 2-0 MVC) held off the Redbirds (8-6, 0-2) for their 20th straight win over a Missouri Valley Conference foe.
STANFORD 68, NO. 21 WASHINGTON 60, OT
STANFORD, Calif. » Rosco Allen hit a key 3-pointer in overtime after missing all six of his free throws in regulation, Chasson Randle’s driving lay-in with 2.2 seconds left sent the game into overtime, and the Cardinal (10-3, 2-0) beat the Huskies (11-3, 0-2 Pac-12).
Robert Upshaw missed a pair of free throws for Washington with 40.2 seconds remaining in OT and the Huskies failed to score a field goal in the extra five minutes after a pair of 28-point halves by each team.
NO. 23 NORTHERN IOWA 67, LOYOLA (ILLINOIS) 58
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa » Jeremy Morgan scored a career-high 18 points and the Panthers (12-2, 1-1 MVC) beat the Ramblers (11-3, 1-1) for their third win in four games.
Deon Mitchell added 13 points and the Panthers bounced back from a loss to Evansville by holding off the Ramblers.
BIG WEST
GRAND CANYON 71, UC RIVERSIDE 69
PHOENIX » Royce Woolridge scored 18 points, including a pair of free throws to pad the Antelopes (9-8) lead with 14 seconds left on the way to a win over the Highlanders (7-7).
DeWayne Russell had a team-high 19 points.